61. Is it possible to teach willpower?
[From Seth Godin, Stop Stealing Dreams http://www.squidoo.com/stop-stealing-dreams]
After all, willpower is the foundation of every realized dream.
Dreams fade away because we can’t tolerate the short-term pain necessary to get to our long-term goal. We find something easier, juicier, sexier, and more now, so we take it, leaving our dreams abandoned on the side of the road.
But is willpower an innate, genetic trait, something we have no say over?
It turns out that (good news) willpower can be taught. It can be taught by parents and by schools. Stanford researcher Kelly McGonigal has written about this, as has noted researcher Roy Baumeister.
If willpower can be taught, why don’t we teach it?
Simple: because industrialists don’t need employees with willpower, and marketers loathe consumers who have it.
Instead of teaching willpower, we expect kids to develop it on their own. Colleges and others have to sniff around guessing about who has developed this skill—generally, it’s the students who have managed to accomplish something in high school, not just go along to get along. In other words, the ones who haven’t merely followed instructions.
Tags: stopstealingdreams
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